Name: Daniel Kostrewa
City of residence: Severance
Occupation: Owner of Hearth Restaurant and Pub and McCarty’s at Eaton Country Club, Realtor, board member of the Windsor Downtown Development Authority
What brought you to Northern Colorado?
About 14 years ago, I moved here from Germany. I met a girl who I ended up marrying. We’ve got a few kids. She grew up in Greeley, so we lived there for a few years and then explored Denver for a while. Then we came back up here due to a business opportunity and settled in the Northern Colorado area.
I grew up in Germany and lived there for 20-something years, and I met my wife on a vacation visiting my cousin, who was going to the University of Northern Colorado. My uncle lives up in Craig and has a little farm there. I immediately fell in love with the area, and then with a girl too. After a couple of years of a long-distance relationship, traveling back and forth, we decided to get married, and that’s when we moved here.
What do you do for work?
I own the Hearth Restaurant and Pub in Windsor. Two and a half years ago, I took over the Hearth, and I’ve been really loving the community. There’s so much to do here, and the growth and the vibrant downtown of Windsor is something I feel very comfortable with and appreciate very much.
Nine years ago in Eaton, I took over a restaurant called McCarty’s at Eaton Country Club, and I’ve been doing that for a while. I also do real estate with a lot of my friends and the community that I live in.
Tell us about the cuisine at the Hearth.
The Hearth Restaurant and Pub is a modern American gastropub. We focus on American classics and put a twist on it, trying to really use real food and no fake ingredients and provide our guests a great, quality product. In addition to that, we have fantastic drinks and a beautiful view over Windsor Lake in the summer. We also have a lot of community events going on, so we really try to participate in those and be a staple of downtown Windsor.
What are your favorite dishes at the Hearth?
I have many favorite menu items. One of my favorite things—and one of the things that we’re known for—is our pizza. We get our flour from Italy, and we hand toss everything. Our pizza is fresh, and it comes together really well. Another favorite dish is definitely our salmon. We use a Scottish salmon filet with some butternut squash, horseradish cream and parmesan on top. It blends very well together, and I think it’s one of our guests’ favorites as well as mine.
How else are you involved in the community?
As the community supports us so much, we definitely want to give back. When I took over the Hearth, I joined the Downtown Development Authority, which has been a fantastic experience. Being part of strategizing downtown and helping shops to come in, doing fun events with the community, things like that are just super great. Being a part of the growth of Windsor and creating a vibrant street with great shops is super exciting. There are so many local nonprofits that do so much good, so we’re trying to be as involved as possible in those, and the schools as well. There’s plenty of opportunity here to really be involved.
What do you love most about Windsor?
One of the things I really love about downtown Windsor is the growth combined with all the shops and the vibrant feeling you have here in the middle of the night, walking through dinner service. It’s still a small community: If you’re sitting at one spot in my restaurant, you can go say hi to somebody else on the other side because you know them by name, or you work with them. It’s a familiarity that I grew up with in Germany, where it’s a smaller town that has grown. It’s a nice thing to see. With all of the community events we have in the park and by the lake, it feels like home.
What are some of your hobbies?
I work quite a bit, so it’s a little bit challenging sometimes. I have three kids with my wife, and family time is my priority next to work. I’m an avid cyclist, doing long rides to give me a little bit of peace and quietness, time to think or not think. I really enjoy that.
If you had a friend or a family member visiting for the weekend, what are some things you would take them to go do?
I like the outdoors, and I like to show off Colorado. I love the smaller towns, like Windsor, and the bigger towns, like Fort Collins, and going up to Estes Park to go shopping and walk down Main Street and enjoy the Colorado feel. So I would definitely want to take a friend or family member there.
Do you have any fun plans for the summer?
Summer is our busy season here at the Hearth, so we’re definitely focused on that and making sure everything goes well. We’re coming out with a summer menu. We try to be very seasonal, so we’re doing research on that and trying to source some really fresh, good products. That’s something I enjoy. On the other end, I enjoy cycling a lot. I’m signed up for a race called the Triple Bypass race, and it’s over Juniper Pass, Loveland Pass and Vail Pass all in one day. It’s hopefully only eight hours of bicycle riding, so I’m trying to get out there.
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